Game of Thrones Scoop: Season 5 Won't Include [Spoiler]

Two or three more characters will be absent from Game of Thrones‘ upcoming fifth season — but don’t worry, they haven’t been killed off (yet).

According to Kristian Nairn, who plays Hodor on the HBO fantasy series, there are no plans to include his less-than-chatty alter ego or Bran Stark on Season 5 of the show. (We can probably assume their traveling companion Meera will also be warming the bench for the next round of episodes, too.)

“We have a season off and we have a year’s hiatus, solely because I imagine our storyline is up to the end of the books,” Nairn revealed in a recent interview. “So, I get my year off now to do [my DJ show] Rave of Thrones and gallivant all over the world.”

At the end of Season 4, Bran & Co. had encountered a manifestation of the three-eyed raven, losing pal Jojen in the process, but that storyline will seemingly be tabled. In the meantime, Season 5 will introduce the Westeros region of Dorne, as well as several new cast members, including Jonathan Pryce (the Pirates of the Caribbean films) and Alexander Siddig (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine).

Game of Thrones will return in 2015.

What do you think of Bran, Meera and Hodor’s hiatus? Drop a line in the comments with your thoughts.

It’s pretty much beyond doubt now that the show is going to overtake the books. The sixth book is unlikely to be released before 2015, four years after the fifth book. If that pattern repeats for the seventh and, allegedly, final book it will be 2019 before the story is complete. With a cast so full of young actors that kind of wait is impossible, without recasting which I can’t see them doing. It’s HBO’s biggest show, there is no way they’ll put it on hiatus for three or four years while Martin finishes the book(s).

From what I have read the show runners have rough ideas of where the story is going, so they’re already prepared. George RR Martin must be pretty worried at the thought of other people finishing his story before he has a chance to himself. Although I suppose if they screw it up he can rewrite the wrongs, assuming he ever finishes the books of course.

There’s a lot we already know. For one, George RR Martin has already given the writers a series of upcoming story plots that have been written or will be written in upcoming books. Secondly, the show does not need to follow the books perfectly. There’s already been plenty of divergence from the source material and a lot of shows based on book series have gone in wildly different directions. Finally, there is precedence for HBO giving showrunners and producers extra time to fully realize their vision, such as The Sopranos’ David Chase who was given two years between seasons. It’s unlikely whomever made this decision is/are still working at HBO, but it’s something that still happens on cable. Louie was off the air for 19 months, for example. More and more makers of television are breaking the typical broadcast network production cycle that insists on 22-26 episodes a year.

It’s not like the books where a POV character returns after a long absence while something is simultaneously happening with another event that took place during a previous book. The world moves forward. Bran will be older when we see him again. Not that hard to accept. It’s something we already see between seasons. The actor is already two years older than his character. That’s already more authentic than countless other teen shows starring 20 and even 30 somethings.

It is silly for a TV series. They build momentum and move this story to a place where it is significant to the series and then drop it entirely for a year because… Like… Shrugs.

This isn’t about telling a good story and keeping him away because it adds to that story. This is about keeping him away because they literally don’t know what they’re doing. And yeah, time will pass and he will come back older. But what if there is no such break in the books? Then they’re really out of luck, aren’t they?

This is why I don’t read GOT, nor watch the show. I played this game with Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan. He kept expanding the series, adding new characters people barely cared about, and ignoring or changing main characters to the point of seriously angering the fans. And he just kept dragging it on.
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Then he died.
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Then another writer “finished” the series while assuring us that there was a detail laden outline he was working from. And the last book sucked. Out loud. In color. It literally ruined the series for me, to the point where I’ll probably never pick up a series of books that I used to re-read every couple of years.
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As I said, I’ve played this game before, and it ends in tears.

The only conclusion I can come to is that people who don’t enjoy Theon’s story in particular haven’t read the fifth book. The general consensus among book readers is that Theon’s arc as well as Davos Seaworth’s arc in the fifth book are two of the best storylines not just in that book, but in the entire series.

@GGK: If you had actually comprehended what I said, you’d realize that I never said all book readers. I said “general consensus.” Of course that doesn’t mean everyone. Go ahead and do research if you’d like. I was just reading a thread earlier tonight about the favorite POV in ADWD, and numerous people mentioned Theon’s POV as one of their favorites. Of course some people didn’t like it as much. I was actually relatively surprised that several people said how much they enjoyed Tyrion’s arc in ADWD as I thought that dragged a bit.

The more I think about it, the more it seems that this past season has almost all of its storylines severely and unnecessarily dragged out, as if they really didn’t have enough material to move the plot. As much as it makes the big moments pop more, it still tries the patience. As much as I love Arya and The Hound’s scenes last season, they pretty much were just walking the countryside the entire time with no more than 35 minutes total screentime for the year. Dany spent too many episodes brooding on her new throne. Jon Snow had too many scenes trying to warn the Night’s Watch about the really, really obviously inevitable invasion. It’s a credit to the writers and producers that they can make so much out of so little story. Still, it would be nice if they shook things up and reduced the amount of scenes consisting of two characters having a foreboding yet inconsequential conversation. I think it would have been better if Jon Snow said one thing about the Wildlings early on, then the invasion is a big surprise instead of something the viewers get bludgeoned into expecting repeatedly.

Just when their storyline was finally getting somewhere!! I want to know what was up with the dude in the tree and why there were skeletons/bones on the floor. Oh well, something to look forward to in future seasons.

Bran’s story was one of the least-interesting last season, although the end of the season had promise for it picking up. Kind of sad they’re not going to be around at all, but probably better to focus on other characters and stories for a while.

I’m fine with it. The Bran / Hodor storyline was boring me to tears last year and it took time away for other stories that were more interesting.
I’m also fine with the show storyline moving past the books. I’m rather tired of seeing Mr Martin on TV so often telling everyone that he’s writing. He is obviously enjoying his new found notoriety. He was known before but now he is a star along with those who appear on the show.
Thankfully HBO is not going to rely on Mr Martin’s “finished” books only for the show.
The books are taking forever to write.
When they throw a typewriter at you from the stage of the Emmys you need to get a CLUE Mr. Martin stay home and write

I’m almost done reading the fifth book and i’m wondering now are they going to put the storyline of that Bolton dude marrying the FAKE Arya? Plus are they still considering adding Lady Stoneheart into the mix (even though the actress who plays Lady Stark) is on a another show? They need to give that boy Bran a serious hair cut…..is that really his hair or wig either way it makes him look like a girl…..overall I like the character and his wolf summer along w/ Jon and Ghost!